#formicidae — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #formicidae, aggregated by home.social.
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A Spiny Sugar Ant (genus Polyrhachis) infected by a fungus spotted at Rifle Range Nature Park, Singapore on 29 June 2025. Always exciting to spot these in the wild.
On iNaturalist [ https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/293672657 ].
#iNaturalist #Nature #Photography #Singapore #Insects #Ants #Formicidae #Fungus
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At Spadina Quay yesterday, it was moving day for this colony of ants (_Crematogaster_?). Workers were carrying pupae up the wooden railroad-tie pillar. There were many alate pupae which were so large they required a whole team to move! Still, they were making steady progress. Various predators, like sphecid wasps and zebra jumping spiders, looked on with interest.
The waterfront was full of people, many soccer fans, tourists, or just regular people, out enjoying the summer weather, oblivious to the incredible activity happening just steps away.
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I'll start off with some ants today. I'm not sure, but guessing ghost ants. They seem different than the ghost ants I normally see around here. As a super cool bonus though, there was a leucistic girl running around with them. I've not come across this in ants before. Is this common?
#Nature #Photography #SriLanka #Formicidae #Ants #Insects #Arthropods
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I'll start off with some ants today. I'm not sure, but guessing ghost ants. They seem different than the ghost ants I normally see around here. As a super cool bonus though, there was a leucistic girl running around with them. I've not come across this in ants before. Is this common?
#Nature #Photography #SriLanka #Formicidae #Ants #Insects #Arthropods
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Last night went out for a good bug ramble except I realized I forgot my light, so I went home and made do with my phone flash along the way. (OpenCamera has a torch flash mode where the flash is always on.)
- _Leptinotarsa_ potato beetles mating
- a huge _Clubiona_ leaf-curling sac spider eating a zebra jumping spider (_Salticus scenicus_)
- an ant war (_Tetramorium_?), this was only one of two large patches, with skirmishes up and down the sidewalk
- a *huge* sawfly larva? of some kind#ArthroBeauty #bugstodon #spiders #insects #beetles #ants #sawflies #Araneae #Clubionidae #Salticidae #Coleoptera #Chrysomelidae #Hymenoptera #Formicidae #Symphyta
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Last night went out for a good bug ramble except I realized I forgot my light, so I went home and made do with my phone flash along the way. (OpenCamera has a torch flash mode where the flash is always on.)
- _Leptinotarsa_ potato beetles mating
- a huge _Clubiona_ leaf-curling sac spider eating a zebra jumping spider (_Salticus scenicus_)
- an ant war (_Tetramorium_?), this was only one of two large patches, with skirmishes up and down the sidewalk
- a *huge* sawfly larva? of some kind#ArthroBeauty #bugstodon #spiders #insects #beetles #ants #sawflies #Araneae #Clubionidae #Salticidae #Coleoptera #Chrysomelidae #Hymenoptera #Formicidae #Symphyta
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Last night went out for a good bug ramble except I realized I forgot my light, so I went home and made do with my phone flash along the way. (OpenCamera has a torch flash mode where the flash is always on.)
- _Leptinotarsa_ potato beetles mating
- a huge _Clubiona_ leaf-curling sac spider eating a zebra jumping spider (_Salticus scenicus_)
- an ant war (_Tetramorium_?), this was only one of two large patches, with skirmishes up and down the sidewalk
- a *huge* sawfly larva? of some kind#ArthroBeauty #bugstodon #spiders #insects #beetles #ants #sawflies #Araneae #Clubionidae #Salticidae #Coleoptera #Chrysomelidae #Hymenoptera #Formicidae #Symphyta
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Last night went out for a good bug ramble except I realized I forgot my light, so I went home and made do with my phone flash along the way. (OpenCamera has a torch flash mode where the flash is always on.)
- _Leptinotarsa_ potato beetles mating
- a huge _Clubiona_ leaf-curling sac spider eating a zebra jumping spider (_Salticus scenicus_)
- an ant war (_Tetramorium_?), this was only one of two large patches, with skirmishes up and down the sidewalk
- a *huge* sawfly larva? of some kind#ArthroBeauty #bugstodon #spiders #insects #beetles #ants #sawflies #Araneae #Clubionidae #Salticidae #Coleoptera #Chrysomelidae #Hymenoptera #Formicidae #Symphyta
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Thomas Shahan took a photo of a Crematogaster ant that everyone should go check out.
http://flic.kr/p/2sjQzQ2 -
Thomas Shahan took a photo of a Crematogaster ant that everyone should go check out.
http://flic.kr/p/2sjQzQ2 -
#DailySpiderPic: found a couple of _Myrmarachne_ ant-mimic jumping spiders on the garden wall today! With their shape and coloration combined with fast staccato motion, if you're not looking closely it's easy to confuse them with their model, _Camponotus_ carpenter ants (pictured: a worker feeding on a bit of apple I gave them, also today).
#bugstodon #antstodon #arachnids #spiders #JumpingSpiders #insects #ants #mimicry #myrmecomorphy #Araneae #Salticidae #Hymenoptera #Formicidae #ArthroBeauty
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Citrus snack time. These Ghost ants were doing something I've never seen before. This unknown citrus tree has several leaf buds just starting to elongate and they were clustering around these elongated bud tips. I don't know if they were actively chewing or just collecting phloem at damaged areas.
#Nature #Photography #Insects #Ants #Formicidae #Tapinoma #melanocephalum #Citrus #Macro #SriLanka
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Citrus snack time. These Ghost ants were doing something I've never seen before. This unknown citrus tree has several leaf buds just starting to elongate and they were clustering around these elongated bud tips. I don't know if they were actively chewing or just collecting phloem at damaged areas.
#Nature #Photography #Insects #Ants #Formicidae #Tapinoma #melanocephalum #Citrus #Macro #SriLanka
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A Giant Forest Ant, Dinomyrmex gigas, spotted at Windsor Nature Park, Singapore on 14 June 2026. It didn't appreciate its view being blocked by a human poking a camera at it. :-)
These ants are among the largest in the world, measuring 2 to 3 cm in length.
On iNaturalist [ https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/371563286 ].
#iNaturalist #Nature #Photography #Singapore #Insects #Ants #Formicidae
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Forgive the subpar photos but I just saw an ant-mimic jumping spider (_Synageles_) investigating a crevice in a wrought-iron fence post. Antennae twitched within. The hole was already occupied by a carpenter ant (_Camponotus_ cf. _novaeboracensis_?) who did not buy the spider's disguise one bit. The last pic is the Synageles looking at me like "Did you just see that?!" It was too funny.
#DailySpiderPic #bugstodon #spiders #AntMimic #JumpingSpiders #mimicry #myrmecomorphy #ants #Araneae #Salticidae #Hymenoptera #Formicidae
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Look at how much peony juice this little _Prenolepis imparis_ drank!
(I looked closely at the _Camponotus_ who have claimed the peony plant next to this one, but their abdomens don't seem to swell like _Prenolepis_' do. A little too closely, as one worker was so startled she fell off the flower and ran away.)
#bugstodon #insects #ants #Hymenoptera #Formicidae #bloomscrolling #ArthroBeauty
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Another Ant Mimic Jumping Spider and another Asian Weaver Ant which it mimics. This is the female jumping spider. Under normal lighting, their color matches very closely too.
#Ants #Spiders #Insects #Mimicry #Nature #Photography #SriLanka #SalticidSunday #Salticidae #Formicidae
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Another Ant Mimic Jumping Spider and another Asian Weaver Ant which it mimics. This is the female jumping spider. Under normal lighting, their color matches very closely too.
#Ants #Spiders #Insects #Mimicry #Nature #Photography #SriLanka #SalticidSunday #Salticidae #Formicidae
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for @futurebird, some kind of _Camponotus_ alates are out
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Okay, I put off watching the latest ZeFrank video because it seemed to be about honeybees, which are boring (sorry bee people), but it's actually an amazing journey through geometry, evo-devo, the other, cooler Hymenoptera such as wasps, solitary bees, and ants, the evolution of eusociality, "stigmergy" (a new one for me), and more!
#bugstodon #entomology #insects #bees #wasps #ants #EvolutionaryBiology #EvoBio #EvoDevo #Hymenoptera #Anthophila #Formicidae
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The young Eastern redbud tree (_Cercis canadensis_) in the co-op garden is blooming! Today I saw winter ants (_Prenolepis imparis_) feeding from the flowers, regular-sized ants climbing up the trunk, ants replete with nectar climbing down.
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Also came across this ant…event? Largely static, no one running around frantically, just pairs and small groups facing off.
I got stung by nettles taking this photo lol.
I told my sister I would ask an ant person (@futurebird) what was happening.
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A Common Yamfly (Loxura atymnus) spotted feeding on a Leea indica plant at Upper Seletar Reservoir Park on 13 April 2025. The Yellow Crazy Ants don't seem to disturb the butterfly.
On iNaturalist [ https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/270184991 ].
#iNaturalist #Nature #Photography #Singapore #Insects #Butterflies #Lepidoptera #Ants #Formicidae
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I found this winged queen surrounded by dozens of workers at the base of a tree. I wish I would have stayed and watched how this played out. Some workers were threatening while others seemed to be feeding her. After one ant nipped at her, another nipped at that ant. Did the established colony take in this young queen? When I returned a short time later, they were gone? So many questions...
#Formicidae #SriLanka #Ants #Insects #InsectInteraction #Oecophylla #smaragdina #Photography #Nature
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I found this winged queen surrounded by dozens of workers at the base of a tree. I wish I would have stayed and watched how this played out. Some workers were threatening while others seemed to be feeding her. After one ant nipped at her, another nipped at that ant. Did the established colony take in this young queen? When I returned a short time later, they were gone? So many questions...
#Formicidae #SriLanka #Ants #Insects #InsectInteraction #Oecophylla #smaragdina #Photography #Nature
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Anyway,
> We show that the two wingless morphs occurring during the root-dwelling phase of the life cycle of the aphid _Paracletus cimiciformis_ follow distinct strategies that entail disparate relationships with ants. On the one hand, the round morph exhibits the plant sap-sucking feeding behavior characteristic of aphids and establishes a typical mutualistic trophobiotic relationship with ants. On the other hand, aphids of the flat morph, although able to feed on plants, are brought inside the ant brood chamber where they are cared for by the ants. Our results show that the latter strategy is accomplished by flat morph aphids by mimicking ant larvae chemical signals and that, besides obtaining ant care, aphids in the brood chamber actively suck hemolymph from ant larvae.
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> […] By being transported by the ants deep into their brood chambers, aphids of the flat morph would be safe from temperature extremes experienced by other root-dwelling aphids that stay closer to the roots to feed. We suggest that lack of access to plants in the brood chamber may have driven the evolution of the ability to use a different food resource (i.e., hemolymph of ant larvae), at least temporarily. The fact that flat morph aphids inside ant nests give rise, when harsh conditions are over, to four morphs representing life history strategies adapted to different temporal and spatial uncertainties…suggests that the flat morph is at the center of a diversified strategy for survival and recolonization of the aphid host plants.A. Salazar, B. Fürstenau, C. Quero, N. Pérez-Hidalgo, P. Carazo, E. Font, & D. Martínez-Torres, Aggressive mimicry coexists with mutualism in an aphid, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 112 (4) 1101-1106, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1414061112 (2015). :OpenAccess:
#entomology #insects #ants #aphids #antstodon #bugstodon #Hymenoptera #Formicidae #Hemiptera #Aphididae
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#BREAKING: _Prenolepis imparis_ nuptial flight day in the garden! I had gone out there to pick up litter and had to return with my phone and lenses.
#bugstodon #antstodon #insects #ants #Hymenoptera #Formicidae
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Ants & lichen, also from yesterday. I think these are _Prenolepis imparis_, a cold-hardy ant.
#bugstodon #antstodon #ants #Hymenoptera #Formicidae #LichenSubscribe
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I did manage to get some time outside in the nice weather today! It was nuptial flight day for _Prenolepis imparis_, cold-active ants who are typically the last to hunker down for the winter and the first to come out in the spring. Unfortunately these were the best photos I could get.
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The retractable antennae of Mycetophylax fungus-farming ants leave such a distinct scrobe on the head. Photo from a few years ago from Mindo, Ecuador.
This is possibly an undescribed species. Too many ants, not enough taxonomists. #Ants #Insects #Formicidae #Mycetophylax
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The retractable antennae of Mycetophylax fungus-farming ants leave such a distinct scrobe on the head. Photo from a few years ago from Mindo, Ecuador.
This is possibly an undescribed species. Too many ants, not enough taxonomists. #Ants #Insects #Formicidae #Mycetophylax
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Asian Weaver Ants (Oecophylla smaragdina) spotted moving the abdomen of a large beetle along a rope at Coney Island, Singapore on 30 March 2025. An example of what these ants can do in coordination.
On iNaturalist [ https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/267665079 ].
#iNaturalist #Nature #Photography #Singapore #Insects #Ants #Formicidae #Beetles #Coleoptera
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A nap ízeltlábúja a hártyásszárnyúak hangyafélék családjába tartozó tölgyfahangya - Liometopum microcephalum https://www.izeltlabuak.hu/faj/tolgyfahangya/talalatok #tölgyfahangya #LiometopumMicrocephalum #hangyafélék #Formicidae #hártyásszárnyúak #Hymenoptera #CitizenScience
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Since its what mastadon seems to care about, here's an ant. I thought it was a destroyer ant when I was taking its picture, but it is actually a sneaking ant which is closely related. Please correct me if I'm wrong on the ID. This one was on a guava leaf. My flash is dying so I can't get consistent enough light to stack and I've reverted to my thinner diffuser... Taken at ~1:3.5x
#Nature #Photography #Macro #Insects #Ants #Formicidae #Myrmicine #Cardiocondyla #SriLanka
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Since its what mastadon seems to care about, here's an ant. I thought it was a destroyer ant when I was taking its picture, but it is actually a sneaking ant which is closely related. Please correct me if I'm wrong on the ID. This one was on a guava leaf. My flash is dying so I can't get consistent enough light to stack and I've reverted to my thinner diffuser... Taken at ~1:3.5x
#Nature #Photography #Macro #Insects #Ants #Formicidae #Myrmicine #Cardiocondyla #SriLanka
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Spring in #SriLanka brings one of my biggest joys of the island. May I present to you the weaver ants. First, we have a huge queen. Many have green gasters, but this one is solid orange. She has a good start to her brood. These will eventually be her workers that will build her a nest and feed her. You will often find a few founding queens together on one leaf. One of the few species I know of that seem to do better with multiple queens.
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Spring in #SriLanka brings one of my biggest joys of the island. May I present to you the weaver ants. First, we have a huge queen. Many have green gasters, but this one is solid orange. She has a good start to her brood. These will eventually be her workers that will build her a nest and feed her. You will often find a few founding queens together on one leaf. One of the few species I know of that seem to do better with multiple queens.
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The big #anthill I pass on my lunchtime walks is coming to life! (for size reference, the hill is somewhere between 4 and 5 feet tall.
I don't check it daily so it's possible that I'm late to catch on, but this was the first time all winter I've seen activity on the hill. They're moving slowly, presumably to conserve energy.
A good lesson, that: Move slowly. Conserve energy.
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The big #anthill I pass on my lunchtime walks is coming to life! (for size reference, the hill is somewhere between 4 and 5 feet tall.
I don't check it daily so it's possible that I'm late to catch on, but this was the first time all winter I've seen activity on the hill. They're moving slowly, presumably to conserve energy.
A good lesson, that: Move slowly. Conserve energy.
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Can ants learn to understand human language?
#language #communication #animals #ants #formicidae #insects -
Hercules Carpenter Ant (Camponotus herculeanus)
#Ant #Hymenoptera #ArtWithOpenSource #Darktable #CCBYSA #Formicidae #Ants #Insect #Insects #InsectPhotography #Animal #Animals #AnimalPhotography #Wildlife #WildlifePhotography #Nature #NaturePhotography #Photo #Photography
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The genus name for American harvester ants, Pogonomyrmex, means "bearded ant", and it refers to a basket of hairs on the underside of the head that helps these desert ants carry dry sand.
Monahans Sandhills State Park, Texas.
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Anyway here's the ant nuptial flights I found. The workers are tiny, like, 1mm or something. I think they are the same species? They resemble citronella ants, but much smaller and not as yellow. *Lasius*? *Brachymyrmex*?
I did also see another kind of alate so multiple species are likely having mating flights right now.
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Peanut Butter (that's what I've decided to call the _Platycryptus undatus_ who lives down the street) nabbed herself a female ant alate! I also saw more female alates in other spiders' webs, and a few that had gotten into the grocery store somehow.
Northeastern North Americans/ant people in general: anyone know which ants' nuptial flight time it is? Those yellow _Lasius_ maybe? The males (in my window orbweaver's web) seem yellow.
#DailySpiderPic #spiders #JumpingSpiders #ants #Araneae #Salticidae #Hymenoptera #Formicidae
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This oughta really wind up the wingnuts.
"Living organisms are assumed to produce same-species offspring1,2. Here, we report a shift from this norm in Messor ibericus, an ant that lays individuals from two distinct species. In this life cycle, females must clone males of another species because they require their sperm to produce the worker caste. As a result, males from the same mother exhibit distinct genomes and morphologies, as they belong to species that diverged over 5 million years ago. The evolutionary history of this system appears as sexual parasitism3 that evolved into a natural case of cross-species cloning4,5, resulting in the maintenance of a male-only lineage cloned through distinct species’ ova. We term females exhibiting this reproductive mode as xenoparous, meaning they give birth to other species as part of their life cycle."
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Here is another ant. I still haven't gotten clarification on how the common names are applied to this group. I learned them as valentine ants, but it seems like most call them acrobat ants and yet others call them cocktail ants. If you know something about how or when to apply these common names, please let me know.
#Formicidae #Crematogaster #Ants #Insects #Nature #Photography #Oklahoma
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Here is another ant. I still haven't gotten clarification on how the common names are applied to this group. I learned them as valentine ants, but it seems like most call them acrobat ants and yet others call them cocktail ants. If you know something about how or when to apply these common names, please let me know.
#Formicidae #Crematogaster #Ants #Insects #Nature #Photography #Oklahoma
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So for months I thought this was a tire track, but today I noticed it goes from one bush to another, which is atypical of tire tracks. Took a closer look and sure enough... it's an ant highway. Either end points toward a large (3-4 feet tall) nest.
I didn't know they did that. I guess the tiny missteps of so many ants had gradually scuffed marks through the gravel, leaving a clear trail through the thin grass growing amongst it. Wild.
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Ran into a tiny commuter during today's walk. Just a blue collar guy trying to bring home the bacon. It's easy to lose sight of the scope of things, sometimes.
Be kind, fellow humans.
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It has been a while... so have some ants!
I believe these are Red Harvester Ants taken near Lake Hefner in Oklahoma
#Ants #Insects #Pogonomyrmex #barbatus #Oklahoma #Formicidae #Photography #Nature #Harvester